Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Second-half woes continue as Orange fall to North Carolina, 12-10, in ACC Semis

The Syracuse Orange line up to shake hands after an NCAA men's lacrosse game at 1952 Stadium, in Princeton, United States, on February 27, 2026. (Photo by Dan Squicciarini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images For the second week in a row, the Syracuse Orange lost the battle of the halftime adjustments to an ACC opponent, this time falling in the ACC Tournament Semifinals to the North Carolina Tar Heels, 12-10, on Friday night down in Charlotte. Bringing a 6-4 lead into the halftime break, the Orange were outscored 8-4 in the second half, including 5-2 in the fourth quarter, to drop their second straight game in which they had a lead after 30 minutes.

The game was a true tale of two halves, as ‘Cuse was able to use a solid first half at the dot to control the tempo and hold down UNC’s offense. In the first half, they won the face-off battle, 8-4, and subsequently held advantages on ground balls (+11), shots (+5) and shots on goal (+4). But in the second half, the Tar Heels came out with a renewed purpose (much like Notre Dame last week) and flipped the script by taking control of the proceedings.

’Cuse lost the second-half face-off battle, 4-10, and were out-paced on ground balls (-10), shots (-6) and shots on goal (-4). The first half went exactly to plan for the Orange, who successfully took away North Carolina’s biggest advantage at the face-off dot. The Tar Heels are so used to overpowering teams with their possession edge, that they were a little flustered without it in the early going.

But you can only hold down Brady Wambach for so long, and SU wasn’t prepared to keep pace once things started to turn. Owen Duffy was in control for Carolina’s offense with six assists and seven points. Third-attacker Brevin Wilson was marked by a short-stick and scored a hat trick.